AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She brings her fingers up to her chin, lost in thought, then shakes her head.
“I’m not going to do that.”
“And why not? If I’m a foul demon, then you, a witch who serves the light, must strike me down.”
She grins, taking a berry off of a nearby bushel. I sometimes use them in my toxins.
“I wouldn’t eat that if I were you,” I tell her.
But before I can react, she takes out a satchel and puts the berry in her bag before grabbing another.
“It’s not for eating.”
“Odd. I don’t sense any darkness in you, but here you are, putting poisonous berries in your rucksack.”
She pauses, still clutching another berry in her hand.
“You’ve taught me a valuable lesson, Rukh.”
“That you should strike me down rather than hide behind hypocrisies,” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No. That the beings of this realm aren’t always as they appear.”
I cross my arms. It’s such a remedial observation, suited less for a witch and more for a commoner.
“Care to explain?”
“I’m a witch, hiding from legions of elves and men alike, who want me dead for following inhuman practices.”
“Correct.”
“And you’re a demon, set on killing and massacring nearly everything in your path… but only when you believe they really deserve it.”
I can’t hide the glint of awareness that crosses my eye. I wonder if she notices it.
“Careful,” I say. “That sounds a bit like heresy.”
She laughs. “Heresy is for zealots. Do I look like a zealot to you?”
I look her up and down. “You looked a bit like one a couple of days ago, ‘witch of the light.’”
“Your victims were all slave owners and con men,” she says, pointedly dodging my tangents. “Even if you did kill all of them – and I have a hard time admitting this – I suppose I don’t disagree with you.”
I smile, walking back toward the circle of corpses. “Your theory has one hole in it, witch,” I growl.
“And what’s that?”
“None of these animals did anything to deserve their deaths.”
I try to walk away from her, suddenly growing uncomfortable with the camaraderie, but I can hear her footsteps behind me.
“Oh, please,” she says dismissively. “Everybody has to eat.”
9
ANNETTE
Ifollow Rukh through the woods, wanting to see for myself what he is up to when he thinks I’m not around. I hang back, doing my best to stay hidden, though I’m not certain he truly has no idea I’m here. He’s a demon, after all.
